Cost Sharing – Job Aid
COA-209
Cost Sharing Overview
The federal government defines cost sharing as the portion of sponsored project costs not borne by the
sponsor. The reporting and audit requirements for cost sharing necessitate tracking the actual commitment and
funding for a sponsored project against the contractually committed amount. Cost sharing will only be tracked if
there is a compliance requirement. Click here for the Cost Sharing Summary to determine whether Cost Sharing is
reportable for your specific needs.
To accomplish the monitoring requirements, an unrestricted cost sharing fund will be used (restricted/unrestricted is
an attribute of fund) allowing the RAS system to ignore this activity for billing purposes while still using the same RAS
Project. In addition, a unique cost sharing expense Account will be used to monitor the commitment activity.
Chartfields Used with Cost Sharing
Fund
Fund Class
4900
Current
Account
Acct Type
51331
Expense
UCOP Fund Group
Description
410290 - Other Sources/Other
Cost sharing fund
Description
Cost sharing expense
Business Process
The business process for Projects with cost sharing requirements is as follows:
1. As part of the post-award process for new contracts, the department submits the Cost Sharing Budget and
funding chartstring information to CGA:
1. The unrestricted cost sharing Fund
2. Dept ID
3. Project ID
4. Activity Period (if funding is from another sponsored project)
5. Function
6. Flexfield
2. As part of the post-award activation process CGA will:
a) Create the budget journal to allocate the project to both the sponsored Fund and the cost sharing Fund;
b) Create a financial journal template to be used to allocate the cost sharing percentage of the payroll and
non-payroll expense from the funding source chartstrings to the cost sharing Fund/Project.
3. Departments (via HR Service Centers) set up the cost sharing distribution line(s) in the payroll system for the PI
and other staff members using:
- Sponsored Fund/Dept ID/Project/Function plus Flexfield if you are using
- Cost sharing Fund/Dept ID/Project/Function plus Flexfield if you are using
4. On a monthly basis CGA will post a financial journal (for the time period) to:
a) Debit the funding source chartstring 100% of the amount of the cost sharing expense
b) Credit the cost sharing Fund the amount of the cost sharing expense
COA-01 07/22/2014
Page 1 of 2
Cost Sharing – Job Aid
COA-209
Example
The following example demonstrates the journal entries associated with a $100,000 award for research into neural stem
cells & brain tumor origins that has a $10,000 cost sharing commitment. 25% of the cost sharing will be funded from a
gift designated for stem cell research and 75% from a medical comp plan fund (general use project).
Step #2a: Budget Journal allocating the cost sharing expense
Amount
Account
Fund
Dept ID
Project
Act Per
Function
Description
$2,500
CS Offset
(51332)
Cost Share
(4900)
Neurology
123456A
01
Research
from 3080711
($2,500)
CS exp
(51331)
CS Offset
(51332)
CS exp
(51331)
Cost Share
(4900)
Neurology
123456A
01
Research
from 3080711
Cost Share
(4900)
Cost Share
(4900)
Neurology
123456A
01
Research
from 3796962
Neurology
123456A
01
Research
from 3796962
$7,500
($7,500)
Step #3: Financial Journal recording payroll expense for Cost Sharing Fund (from PPS distribution line)
Amount
Account
Fund
Dept ID
Project
Act Per
Function
$1,000
Salaries
Cost Share
(4900)
Neurology
123456A
01
Research
($1,000)
Description
Cash
Step #4: Financial Journal initiated monthly by CGA to fund cost sharing
Amount
Account
Fund
Dept ID
Project
$250
CS exp
(51331)
CS exp
(51331)
CS exp
(51331)
CS exp
(51331)
Priv Gift
Neurology
3080711
Cost Share
(4900)
Med Comp
Plan
Cost Share
(4900)
Neurology
123456A
Neurology
3796962
Neurology
123456A
($250)
$750
($750)
Act Per
01
01
Function
Description
Research
to 123456A
Research
from 3080711
Research
to 123456A
Research
from 3796962
When all transactions are complete, the Cost Sharing fund (in steps 3 and 4) and the Cost Sharing expense account (step
4) have a net zero balance.
COA-01 07/22/2014
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